Faculty, graduates work together on CBS Super Bowl sets

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Southeastern Professor of Theatre Design and Technical Directing Steve Schepker looks
at plans for a set he is building at Southeastern, while student Lynsey Manley works
on lights. Schepker teamed up with two former students to help build sets for CBS
programming in connection with Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans.

When millions of television viewers tuned in for the 2013 NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans,
they were seeing the artistic design and technical accomplishments of Southeastern
graduates and faculty.

For several weeks, Theatre Professor Steve Schepker worked with his former student,
Michael Kramer, the senior designer with New Orleans-based Solomon Group, to put together
the nine stages that CBS is used during its full week of coverage of Super Bowl XLVII.
The network broadcast a multitude of shows from various sites in New Orleans, including
the Morial Convention Center, Champions Square at the Superdome, and the French Quarter.

"Michael sent me a text asking if I wanted to work on the Super Bowl scenery over
the Christmas break," said Schepker, a winner of the Southeastern President's Excellence
Award for Artistic Activity. "I said 'yes' immediately. How can you turn down working
on the biggest stage in the world, especially when it is in New Orleans?"

Schepker, who designs and builds most of the sets used in the university's theatrical
productions, first met Kramer when he was a Southeastern student majoring in industrial
technology.

Michael Kramer

"Michael just walked into my shop and said he wanted to build scenery," he recalled.
"I hired him on the spot and he was a natural. He already had many of the skills necessary
as a designer and technician."

A native of New Orleans, Kramer graduated in 1997 and knew he wanted to pursue set
design as a career. For graduate studies, Schepker steered him to his alma mater,
Western Illinois University, where Kramer refined the skills he needed to work in
the New York theatre industry. He graduated from WIU in 2001 with an MFA degree in
scenic design.

"I worked for him (Schepker) in college, and I fell in love with the theatre," Kramer
said. "I found my niche working for him. He sent many students to WIU for graduate
degrees."

"I think Michael really developed as an artist after he moved to New York City," Schepker
said.

Kramer has done set designs for ESPN's "SportsNation," as well as for Comedy Central,
ABC, Nickelodeon, and numerous New York theatre productions.

Amanda Klipsch

Another Southeastern graduate, Amanda Klipsch, also worked on the sets as an employee
with the Solomon Group. A 2011 theatre graduate, she also learned techniques as a
student worker in Schepker's shop and eventually served as scenic director on several
productions for which she received awards for graphic and scenic design.

"I loved working in the Southeastern theatre program," she said. "It provided me with
more opportunities to design and work shows as an undergraduate than I would have
gotten at any other school."

"Amanda helped to build sets since she started as a freshman," Schepker said. "She
demonstrated a great work ethic and became someone we could always count on."Working on the CBS set was a reunion of sorts for Schepker.

"I never thought I would be working under the direction of a former student or with
Amanda on a commercial venture like the Super Bowl sets," he said. "It was a great
experience."